Judge Jacqueline Nguyen Confirmed in 91-3 Vote

By Robyn Hagan Cain on May 8, 2012 9:04 AM

The Senate confirmed Judge Jacqueline Nguyen for a seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last night by a vote of 91-3. She will be the first Vietnamese American and first Asian-Pacific woman to serve on a federal appeals court, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

President Obama nominated Judge Nguyen to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last September. Nguyen has served as a U.S. District Judge in the Central District of California in Los Angeles since 2009. She was a Los Angeles Superior Court judge before migrating to the federal bench.

Judge Nguyen was born in Dalat, Vietnam. She received her AB from Occidental College in 1987, and her JD from UCLA School of Law in 1991.

Judge Nguyen will fill a new seat on Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that has been vacant since it was authorized in January 2009. President Obama initially nominated Berkeley Professor Goodwin Liu to the seat, but Liu did not have enough support in the Senate to survive the confirmation process.

There are currently two remaining vacancies on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: Los Angeles attorney Paul Watford is awaiting confirmation for the seat left vacant by the late Judge Pamela Rymer, and Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Hurwitz is waiting to fill Judge Mary Schroeder's seat on the bench.

Prior to Judge Nguyen's confirmation, former Alaska Supreme Court Justice Morgan Christen was the last judge to be confirmed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Nguyen is the third Obama nominee to be confirmed for the circuit.

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U.S. Ninth Circuit features news and information from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which hears appeals from U.S. District Courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Montana, Oregon and Washington. This blog also features news that would be of interest to legal professionals practicing in the 9th Circuit. Have a comment or tip? Write to us.